About the study

I started studying the surname CURSLEY some 25 years ago. My father's lack of interest in family history and our surname in particular motivated me into tracing my ancestors and with the help and input of many people in the UK and abroad a substantial database is now available to those interested in the CURSLEY surname.

Variant names

Name origin

The earliest reference I can find to the surname appears in 1522. The will of Robert Cooke, Chaplain, Vicary of Churcham in Gloucestershire contains a bequest, 'To the mending of the highway from Curseley's brigge forwards John Hewitts house 6s 8d ' the highway led to Curseley's farm, now Beauchamp House. Source: Hockaday abstracts Churcham 152, Gloucestershire C.R.O.

Hall and Humberstones survey of the Barony of Alnwick, 17th May 1569 Rents of the Free Burgesses within the town of Alnwick: William Curseley 7d. The heir of Curseley 11d.

Cursley families were resident in East Haddon, Moulton and Thornby, Northamptonshire in the middle to late 17th Century.

The 1841 census shows that the surname CURSLEY probably originated in and around Northamptonshire.

Emigration to Australia also took place in the late 18th century with several Cursley's currently in residence.

According to an O.N.S. database there were 145 Cursley,s resident in England and Wales in 2002.

*Do not rely on one source for the census figures. For the 1841 Census Ancestry produced 25 names, a website for the town of Burton Latimer produced another 7 and finally Alan Clarke's lookup service for Northamptonshire took the total to 72! There may be more to find. The figure of 38 for the 1871 now look rather suspicious!

Distribution of the name

The 1841 census shows that the surname CURSLEY probably originated in and around Northamptonshire.

In the 1861 Census the most populous counties are Northamptonshire 25, Huntingdonshire 18, Yorkshire 15, Lancashire 9, Leicestershire 7 and Surrey 7. The balance being distributed throughout Cheshire, Staffordshire and Essex.

The 1881 Census shows that the most populous counties are Northamptonshire 29, Derbyshire 18, Staffordshire 10 and Leicestershire 8. The rest are distributed in a line from Lancashire to Suffolk and then westwards via London to Hampshire. 1881 Census Distribution Maps

There are Cursley's resident in the U.S.A., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Curacao.

Several occurrences of the name can be found in Mauritius but in use only as additional forenames!

Data

A database of Civil Births, Marriages and Deaths relating to the surname Cursley extracted from the G.R.O. Indexes can be found on the The Guild of One-Name Studies electronic archive at Guild Electronic Archive